Revision aids for the Easter Holidays

While many people across the country might be looking forward to winding down over the upcoming Easter break, for students it can be a far from relaxing time, with end of year exams looming ever larger on the horizon. For candidates of several ages, the results of these exams will determine if and where they progress to next academic year, or whether or not they secure a job placement upon leaving their current period of education.

The next few weeks are a great opportunity for students to get a handle on their revision, and make sure that when they turn the examination papers over in the summer they are as prepared as possible for what lies ahead. We thought it might be helpful to students and teachers if we collated a number of entries from our educations blogs that focus on revision - whether looking at techniques, apps, or other technology – before terms and semesters wind down for the break.

To save you time, we’ll only include a brief synopsis of each post, and then if you think it would be useful to yourself or your class, you can then follow the link through to the original posts in their entirety.

With Office 365 and SharePoint online you can create customised and personalised exam revision sites, so that your students are as fully supported as possible right up to the door of the exam room. This can be done by adding your lesson notes and any support material, including a PowerPoint if there is one, to your class site at the end of each lesson. Using the site calendar you can then make it easy for each student to be able to locate the lesson and support materials which covered the topic in question. They can look back over your notes and make a good attempt to follow your working… [Read more]

Over the Christmas holiday, I used Lync 2013 to deliver some revision sessions to my AS Level Chemistry students. They have their first exam next Thursday, and I felt it was important to keep up the momentum for their revision by keeping some teacher contact. This was the first time I’d used our recently installed Lync 2013 server to deliver an on-line revision session, but it wasn’t the first time I’d run an on-line revision session for our students… [Read more]

Whether it’s studying for prelims, mid-terms or university module finals, exams are challenging for most students regardless of their age or academic stage, due to the fear of the unknown and to the unnerving prospect of not remembering the key facts. Today I'm going to show how the Windows 8.1 app 'Flashcards Pro' can make the revision experience a lot less linear and help students to internalise the facts they wish to bash out in their exams. With research showing that many learners learn more effectively with visual and interactive aids, Flashcards Pro provides a visually and audibly stimulating environment to get to grips with all the facts… [Read more]

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BONUS IDEA:

Why not use Office Mix to add your own audio or video content to a teacher or lecturer’s PowerPoint slides? You can explain things to yourself in a way that makes sense to you – after all, it make be a different approach than anyone else’s, but if it helps you to understand then that’s all that matters!

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If you’re sitting exams in the coming months then all of us here at Microsoft Education would like to wish you good luck, and remember - don’t overwork yourself! It’s important to approach your end of year exams feeling fresh and well rested, so take some time to relax over the holiday.